We’ll start with the background because it’s kind of convoluted. It begins with O’Reilly in a late March show saying that gay marriage proponents have successfully defined it as a civil rights issue, which he called a “compelling” argument that social conservatives have yet to counter.

“The other side hasn’t been able to do anything but thump the Bible,” he said.

Rush Limbaugh took umbrage at this. On his own radio show last Wednesday, he took out after O’Reilly, calling him “Ted Baxter," after the pompous anchor from the old Mary Tyler Moore show. O’Reilly had “marginalized” many religious Fox News viewers with his statement, said Mr. Limbaugh. Got that? So the stage is now set for last night.

O’Reilly began his Tuesday show with a segment downplaying any feud between him and Limbaugh. He said the left was trying to create an argument where none existed. Then he repeated his “thump” assertion.

“Zealots picked up on my statement that opponents must do more than thump the Bible if they want to win the civil debate. That’s absolutely true,” he said.

As Ingraham begins to state her case to BillO, he cuts her off as he usually does with guests he doesn't agree with and wants to marginalize right from the beginning.

Ingraham: Can I finish here? If you let me talk, I will get specific. May, I? (She's looking pissed off)

O'Reilly: You made two statements that were fallacious and I'm going to correct them.

O'Reilly came up with a good name for a new Peter Gabriel song. "Thump the Bible."

"You are not delineating, you are still saying that I insulted Christians who believe in the Bible -- I did not," O'Reilly continued.

"Then why did you use the word 'thump'?" Ingraham asked.

"Because that's the way you get it across!" O'Reilly replied. "There are bible-thumpers and all they do is say, 'I object to gay marriage because God objects to it.' You don't win a policy debate in America with that.... You are criticzing me tacitly for using the word 'thump the Bible,' which is an accurate description of what people [do]."

"I don't think it helped," Ingraham replied.

"I'm not here to help," O'Reilly said. "Helpful? It was accurate and honest."

"All I'm trying to say is that some people took offense," Ingraham later said. "Don't get mad at me."

"I'm not mad at you, I'm disappointed," O'Reilly said. "Of all the conservative radio hosts, you have the most common sense -- of all of them. But you bought into this garbage... and I'm disappointed."

It appears he set her up as his foil for this segment because she said he asked her on to talk about the issue. Hahaha..

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